


Never Expected to End Up Here

by madeof_it



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Birthday, F/M, Light Angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-26
Updated: 2014-06-26
Packaged: 2018-02-06 09:04:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1852330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madeof_it/pseuds/madeof_it
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Hermione's 20th birthday and she's alone at Hogwarts with her former professor. It seems everyone has forgotten.</p><p>(pre-Hermione/Severus?)<br/>Mention of Lavender/Ron, Harry/Ginny.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Never Expected to End Up Here

She peered at him from over the rim of her porcelain teacup, watching his eyes skitter back and forth across the page of the paper he was holding. A sigh escaped from her lips, and an eyebrow quirked as he folded the Daily Prophet and set it on the table.

"Hermione, is there something the matter?" he asked her calmly.

Her only response was, "No, nothing at all, Severus. I was just ... blowing on my tea, it's a bit too warm this morning."

This apparently satisfied him well enough, and he pushed away from the heavy wood, his sudden height towering over her. Peering down his nose, his eyes softened a bit before he spun and headed towards the exit of this private rooms.

He paused at the door, turning to look at her before he swept into the hallway.

"Have a pleasant day. I shall see you later tonight, providing another full day of these dunderheads doesn't kill me."

She snorted into her tea and waved him off, the smile not leaving her face until the door closed firmly behind him.

Only then did she allow her disappointment to show. Could he really have forgotten? It was completely unlike Severus Snape: war hero and former spy, expert strategist and master of memories and emotions to have something so important slip his mind. True, he'd been under a bit of stress lately with Albus Dumbledore being out of the country for some Headmasters' convention (which she suspected was really more of a social gathering of twinkling old fools who ate too many sweets) and having to cooperate with Minerva over keeping Hogwarts under control. But still!

It seemed unfair that her birthday celebrations would be suffering for it. It was her twentieth birthday, and in her mind it was a big deal, especially with all the changes that had come in this life that she now shared with her former professor.

Certainly, their relationship hadn't been conventional. In the chaotic flurry that was now known as the Final Battle, she'd been hurt badly and put into a magically-induced coma at St. Mungo's. The other two-thirds of the Golden Trio had escaped relatively unscathed in the defeat of Lord Voldemort, with just scratches and bruises, and Ron and Harry had spent most of the two months she was unconscious by her bedside. The boys (because they'd always be boys to her) had been incredibly worried and had even been given their own private room at the hospital -- because the Healers were sure they'd have wasted away in their concern otherwise.

Severus had been the reason for her survival. He'd worked with the hospital staff in creating a potion that kept her body alive, even as her spirit remained trapped in the recesses of her mind. He'd also managed, after a few weeks of research, to employ a modified form of Legilimency on her. His invasion into her coma-riddled mind allowed him to wake her up from within herself.

Although everyone had been ecstatic to see her alive and well on her way to her former health, she was surprised at the relief Professor Snape had shown. The first time she'd questioned it, he'd responded with a curt, "It would've have been a shame to have invested so much time in your healing only to have it wasted upon your death."

It had stung. Later, he'd admitted that it was just his uncomfortable concern mixed with his overwhelming relief that had made him irritable.

Even though she was no long in danger of deteriorating health, Hermione still had an extensive number of requirements to keep her health improving. Everyone had been startled when Professor Snape offered that she move into a spare room in his quarters at Hogwarts so he'd be easily able to administer the four different portions she needed (each with a different dosage and schedule, which was hard to keep track of).

Perhaps the only thing more surprising than his willingness to help was Harry's approval of the idea. Though they would probably never be the best of friends, the downfall of Voldemort seemed to ease a lot of the hatred they'd initially harbored for each other. Harry recognized that Snape had an act to keep up during the war and excused many of his actions (although it would never be known that Severus Snape was a particularly nice man), and Snape recognized that Harry was NOT, in fact, James Potter -- and was therefore not deserving of perpetuating his grudge that had started with the Marauders.

Ron hadn't been pleased with it, especially since he and Hermione had been slowly weaving the heartstrings of what everyone anticipated would be a lasting relationship. The Final Battle had all but severed those ties, with Hermione in a coma and Ron needing comfort and finding it in the arms of one Lavender Brown. Hermione had been hurt, but understood, especially after she saw the two of them together for the first time.

Gone were the days of "Lav-Lav" and "Won-Won". The couple they had been in their sixth year at Hogwarts was replaced with a more mature relationship, and Hermione had to admit that they fit well together. Her feelings in support of them only strengthened when Lavender found herself suddenly pregnant -- and instead of being horrified and devastated (as she would've been to find herself as an extremely-young mother), Lavender had been ecstatic. Ron decided to make an honest woman of her (probably with some harsh encouragement from Molly, who was THRILLED at the idea of having grandchildren) and the Browns and Weasleys had celebrated one of the most joyful weddings the wizarding world had ever seen.

Hermione couldn't lie to herself about her own feelings, though. She was lonely, especially after she'd seen so many of her former classmates paired off. Lavender and Ron, Harry and Ginny, Neville and Luna, even Seamus (pyromaniac extraordinaire) had found someone he shared some sparks with. 

But Hermione Granger? She was living in the rooms of her former professor in a school she had graduated from over a year prior, being fed potions on a strict schedule that didn't allow for much fun, lonely and completely baffled at how her life had ended up where it did.

Not only that, but it was her twentieth birthday and, presumably, the only person she had any contact with most days had completely forgotten.

Her eyes suddenly welling with self-pitying tears, she threw her porcelain tea cup against the stone walls where it shattered brilliantly. Leaving the shards in a puddle of tea, she stalked off to the bathroom muttering under her breath.

"It seems Neville Longbottom isn't the only one who needs a Rememberall. ALL of my friends could've benefited from one of those."


End file.
